We are constantly updating the guide it. It takes a lot of time and work to keep up with the every changing restaurant scene in our little village! We admit that we don’t have every place on our list, but we have most of the restaurants on the port side that are easy walking distance of the main town square. We have also added some of the more popular places in the Colonia. Each listing has the name of the place, directions to the place, basic description of what kind of food they serve, Facebook and website links, hours of operation and their phone number. We are always adding more places, so check back often.

If you have a favourite that we have missed, please feel free to send us a note and we will add it.

Here are the cash exchange rates for January 26, 2018 at CI Banco in Puerto Morelos. I post these rates on occasion so that you can compare these rates with the rate your bank or the ATM may offer. To see where the rates have been in the last couple of years, search “exchange rates” on our page at InPuertoMorelos.com

For a little more beach time, come see us at Casa de los Viajeros! We have an opening in our suite #3 January 23 – 31! Suite #3 is a one bedroom, one bath suite with full kitchen, high-speed WiFi and Netflix.

Between the busy “Cancun to Tulum” highway and the beach side of Puerto Morelos lies the mangrove, a two-kilometre wide stretch of water and greenery, and a tranquil home to a wide variety of wildlife.

Most of us shoot through the area at high speed in a car or taxi. You can’t see much at 70 kilometres per hour, but take the walking path one day, and you are guaranteed to something interesting. (click the photos for a better view)

There are two paths nowadays. The southern one is the best to walk as you can get shade and the bikes tend to take the red path on the other side.

Walking from the square to the highway is a little over 2 kilometres (about 1.5 miles). It took me about 30 minutes, and I was guilty of some meandering and gawking at the scenery. The most scenic bits however are about 1 kilometre from the square, so you could walk up a stretch and walk back.

A few years ago they built these little boardwalks so that you could get a better view of life in the mangrove, but unfortunately they were not maintained and are now just a little “peligroso”.

Wherever there is a break in the foliage though, you will get a view like this. I must go back at sunset as the colours at that time are stunning.

I have walked this path dozens of times and have only spotted a crocodile once before, but I got lucky on this sunny afternoon and saw this fellow, catching some rays near one of the dilapidated docks.

Back in town, I spotted this more genteel wildlife, catching a late afternoon siesta.

So plan a quick trip to the mangrove some time during your next visit. Early in the morning, you will likely see more birdlife. I took these pictures closer to noon, so I saw no birds, but I did spot the croc.

The mangroves are protected, so development in them is not allowed. You could say that the expansive mangrove has saved and protected Puerto Morelos, so we must save and protect the mangrove.

Here are the cash exchange rates for January 11, 2018 at CI Banco in Puerto Morelos and for comparison, the cambio on the square in Puerto Morelos.

Note that when you are exchanging cash in Puerto Morelos, you are “selling” your foreign money to them, so at CI Banco, you are concerned with the “buy” rate, that is the amount of pesos they will give you for each dollar. So if you are “selling” $100 US dollars, CI Banco will give you $1810 pesos. The cambio on the square will give you $1760. For Canadians, you will get $1460 versus $1400 in town. You can see that for larger amounts of cash, it is in your best interest to go to the bank. You will easily pay for the taxi ride.

I post these rates on occasion so that you can compare these rates with the rate your bank or the ATM may offer. To see where the rates have been in the last couple of years, search “exchange rates” on our page at InPuertoMorelos.com

You will find lots of other town information there including an interactive map and a very up-to-date restaurant list. (No small feat in Puerto Morelos) InPuertoMorelos.com

Have you every heard of the concept “cabañuelas” (also cavanuelas or cabanuelas)? We had not. Yesterday our Mayan friend was telling us that the weather we were are having that day, the second of January, would predict the weather for the month of February. I mentioned this to another friend last night, as she was complaining about the cold (it was 22C/ 72F at 9:00PM, a real local). She said it is called “cabañuelas”.

The concept dates back as far as the Egyptians and was thought to have been brought to Mexico by the Spaniards. The idea is that if you carefully observe the weather for the first twelve days of January, you can predict the weather for the rest of the year. The first twelve days correspond to each of the twelve months of the year. As it stands right now we had a beautiful day on January 1st reaching a high of 29C/84F. The next day was a bit more coolish (highs around 26C/79F) with a cooler than usual evening on January 2nd, with overcast skies, but no rain. January 3rd so far has brought a very chilly (for us) morning (16C/61F) at sunrise, but beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the late 20s. If cabañuelas holds true, January (after the first twelve days I guess) will be lovely. February will be cool night and mid 20s during the day with some clouds. While March will be a beautiful month with good sleeping weather at night. Tomorrow we will see what April holds.

That is the theory that the locals use, but if you look deeper into cabañuelas, there is more to it than that. If we have piqued your interest you can read more about it here or here and try to predict the weather in Puerto Morelos for yourself. As for the USA and Canada…. let’s hope this theory doesn’t hold true for them. With their recent cold snap, they could be looking at a very icy July if cabañuelas applied there.

Up early on a lovely, calm 2018 morning in Puerto Morelos. The colours were outstanding. There is a cruise ship in the middle of the shot, but it is a little hard to make out. (Click the photo for a better view)

And here are a couple of scenes from last night.

Here are a two of the “Viejos”. A part of Mexican New Year’s Eve tradition is to create a dummy and fill him full of fireworks. At midnight “los años viejos” (the old years) is lit and explodes in a ball of fire, filled with loud bangs and small explosions. This is thought to get rid of the “bad” of the past year and bring hope and prosperity for the coming year.